


The One Where Bruce is Thor's Weakness

by JinxQuickfoot



Series: Weaknesses [21]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), BAMF Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Bruce Banner & Thor Friendship, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Hostage Situations, Hurt Bruce Banner, Kidnapping, Loki & Thor Friendship (Marvel), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Thor (Marvel), Rescue Missions, Thor (Marvel) Feels, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-23 07:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23574478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxQuickfoot/pseuds/JinxQuickfoot
Summary: The video started playing the moment he picked it up. Thor watched it once, then was out of the room in a heartbeat, tracking down Loki and Valkyrie. This was going to take all three of them.Thor wasn’t going to lose anyone else.----------------------------------------------------------------------------Set between the events of Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War. When Kree kidnap Bruce in order to lure Thor onto their ship, Thor enlists Loki and Valkryie's help to bring their friend home.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Thor, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Thor (Marvel), Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Series: Weaknesses [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672462
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40
Collections: Weaknesses





	The One Where Bruce is Thor's Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> Day 21 of the "Weaknesses" writing challenge 
> 
> In my head, this was a fun space adventure, but my writer's brain ordered FEELS
> 
> [Come say hi on Tumblr - I take requests!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jinxquickfoot)

Two weeks. Two weeks of drifting through space. Two weeks of grief. Of loss. And of contemplating the future.

Thor did his usual rounds of the ship, talking to what remained of his people, trying to assure them that all was not lost, that Asgard was a people, not a place.

Maybe if he said it enough times, he would believe it himself.

He did not regret the events of Ragnarok. It had been the best decision - the only decision.But he couldn’t get the gleaming palaces out of his mind, the opulent gardens where he and Loki had played as children, or the smiling faces of his childhood friends.

All gone.

But all was not lost. He would find a new Asgard; he and his people would rebuild from the ground up. It would be long and hard, but they would do it. They would find a home again.

And even with all he had lost, Thor had regained that which he had thought gone from him forever. Loki mostly kept to himself, and the Asgardians on the ship gave the God of Mischief a wide berth. They had yet undecided what to do about Loki when they got to Earth, but they still had some time before they landed on Thor’s second home to figure that out. Whatever the decision, Thor had been beyond thankful to have his brother in his life once more.

Thor was finishing his rounds, making sure to check in with each and every Asgardian, that they all enough food and water, and that they were comfortable. He looked across the room and saw Valkyrie doing the same. She offered him a sad smile, balancing a young child on her lap who was trying to grab her hair.

Thor ended the daily routine where he always did - with Bruce. The physicist had taken up a small room towards the back of the ship that he had claimed as his sanctuary, and no one but Thor or Valkyrie had visited during the two weeks they had been drifting through space.

The moment there was no more danger to fight, no terror left to run from, Bruce had collapsed into himself. Two years of being trapped in the Hulk’s body had finally fully registered with him, and he spent most of the time in his makeshift bed. Thor had at first hoped that this was the first stage in a long recovery process, but as the days passed, and Bruce showed no sign of improvement, Thor’s worry had only grown.

He tapped on the door, a bundle of food and water clutched in his hand. “Banner?”

There was no response. Thor steeled himself and pushed open the door, ready to face the worst.

The room was empty.

“Banner?” Thor called again. “Bruce? Are you in here?”

It took all of ten seconds to search the tiny room, to ascertain that Bruce was gone. Thor frowned - he had just made his way through the entire ship, and hadn’t seen him anywhere.

That’s when he saw the small device on the bundled up sports jacket Bruce had been using as a pillow.

The video started playing the moment he picked it up. Thor watched it once, then was out of the room in a heartbeat, tracking down Loki and Valkyrie. This was going to take all three of them.

Thor wasn’t going to lose anyone else.

***

They had watched the video a dozen times now, and it wasn’t getting any easier. Thor felt a stab in his gut every time Valkyrie rewound it to the beginning, and he saw Bruce on his knees, head bowed, being guarded by two Kree soldiers.

The instructions were simple. Turn Thor and Valkyrie over the Kree within two hours, or they would kill Bruce.

“Can they?” Valkyrie asked. “Kill him, I mean. Isn’t he, you know, kind of indestructible?”

“Maybe we should let them,” Loki offered. “Don’t look at me like that,” he added when Thor shot him a _watch it_ look. “Injury brings out the beast, does it not? Let him fight until there’s no one left, and then we can just go pick him up.”

_If I turn into the Hulk, I am never going to come back again. And you don’t care._

_“_ No,” Thor decided. “We go in. We fight. We bring him home.”

Loki sighed, and Thor could tell he was reframing from rolling his eyes. “Always the hero,” Loki muttered, but then added, “So what’s Plan B?”

"We fight," Thor repeated.

“You said that bit,” Loki retorted. “I’m more interested in the surviving the fight part of the plan.”

Thor glanced over at Valkyrie, whose eyes were back on the video, contemplating. “I have a plan,” she announced. When she turned around, she looked passed Thor to Loki, whose eyes narrowed.

“I’m not going to like it very much, am, I?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“I’m _not_ doing ‘get help’.”

Valkyrie ignored him, turning her attention to Thor. “I think you should stay behind,” she said.

Thor blinked at her. “I’m sorry, I think I just misheard you.”

“No,” Valkyrie replied bluntly. “These people just lost their home, Thor. They can’t lose their king too.”

Thor felt the sting of his missing eye when she said _king._ He shouldn’t be king. His father…his father should still be king, should still be alive…

“I need to go,” he insisted, a lump forming in his throat. “I can’t…” He saw the other two looking at him with concern, and pulled himself together.

“We lose no one else,” he stated, pulling himself to his full height. “We stand together. Always. Now,” he turned to Valkyrie. “How are we bringing Bruce home?”

***

Bruce knew he should be freaking out more. _I’m on an alien spaceship,_ his mind was telling him. Not that that was new. He’d been on multiple alien spaceships by this point.

_I’m a prisoner on an alien spaceship._ That was new. And bad. Very, very bad.

So why did he feel _nothing?_

No anger. No stress. No dread. Just _numb._

It had been like that since Ragnarok. The second the danger had passed, that Thor and Valkyrie had taken over the situation, something inside him had shut down. He was going through the motions, but it was as if he was disconnected from his body, the movements and the words belonging to someone else. He watched as a disinterested spectator, as they slowly made their way towards earth.

_Earth._ Earth was home, Earth was Natasha and Tony; it was Steve and Clint. Earth was Betty. It should make him feel something. 

It didn’t.

He had barely resisted when they came for him. He knew he should fight. Somewhere, a small voice was begging him to do something, anything, but he couldn’t. He was a passenger. He had no control anymore.

So he let them take him, let them put him on his knees while they issued demands to someone he couldn't see, then lock him away in this cell. He had a vague sense that someone might be coming for him. He wished they wouldn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: This fic is currently on hiatus while I work on the [Whumptoberverse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26438419)
> 
>   
> So hey, I have this film and screenwriting podcast? It's called "Kill the Cat" and once a month my co-host and I and break down one of our favourite movies or tv shows and look at why they work, including Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and, of course, the MCU.
> 
> You can check it out on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ypaen3yM5Q&t=1s&ab_channel=KilltheCatPodcast), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5hCprc9UCBZP4srFrBXKT1?si=ZOqdhMlVQvqV2fG5PxuvOA), or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 
> 
> And hey. You're doing great.


End file.
